'Panic' as plotters' bomb attempts failed

The dramatic moments when four would-be suicide bombers tried and failed to detonate their home-made rucksack bombs on three Tube trains and a bus were described in court today.

One was blown into the air, one was knocked to the floor while another sent passengers recoiling in fear as, in each case, the detonator fired but the main charge failed to explode.

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Their alleged attempts to detonate the bombs on July 21, 2005, caused panic on the London transport system just two weeks after the July 7 terror attacks, with commuters running along platforms and up escalators to escape.

One of the would-be Tube bombers was caught on CCTV trying to set off his device in front of a young mother and her child, while on the bus, passengers jumped to their feet and fled after hearing the detonator blow, the court heard.

All of the alleged bomb plotters escaped among the mass of terrified passengers - some were even seen with wires coming from holes in their clothes.

One injured his leg jumping from a Tube track into a garden while one castigated a Muslim woman for not taking him in as he desperately tried to flee.

He had vaulted the gate at Warren Street Tube station to get away, the court was told.

That was in stark contrast to another of his alleged co-conspirators, who broke off his sprint to carefully put his ticket through the automatic barriers at Oval station - despite being chased by members of the public.

In each case, they dumped their alleged bombs at the spot where they were supposed to have caused death and carnage, the prosecution said.

The rucksacks and plastic containers holding the bombs had split open, leaving the foam-like explosive mixture of hydrogen peroxide and chapatti flour oozing out onto the floor.

One of the bombers even tried to offer an excuse to his fellow passengers; pointing to the mixture and trying to claim it was bread, the jury heard.

The four men; Ramzi Mohammed, Hussain Osman, Yassin Omar and Muktar Said Ibrahim are standing trial along with two others, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu and Adel Yahya, at Woolwich Crown Court.

The six African Muslim men are all accused of hatching an extremist Islamic plot to carry out a series of murderous suicide bombings in the capital.

They all deny conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.

Asiedu was alleged to have been the fifth bomber but he lost his nerve at the last moment.

Yayha had left the country six weeks prior to the attempted attacks.

The most dramatic moment of the second day of their high profile trial came when the jury was played CCTV images of the moment Mohammed tried to set off his bomb on a Northern Line train travelling between Stockwell and Oval.

The pictures showed the 25-year-old boarding a busy Tube train with his rucksack, and turning with his back towards a mother called Nadia Baro, who was in the carriage with her child in a pushchair, before activating the detonator.

Panic ensued as passengers desperately tried to flee the scene.

Only one man, fireman Angus Campbell, stayed to try to remonstrate with the alleged attacker.

The jury watched in silence as the CCTV footage played out over a minute.

At one point, Mohammed dropped the rucksack to the ground and pointed at it repeatedly.

"Mohammed said not that it was a bomb, but rather 'What's the matter, it is bread, it isn't me, it was that', pointing to the rucksack," said prosecution counsel Nigel Sweeney QC.

"He placed the rucksack on the floor of the carriage, no doubt the best he could do, being surprised to find himself alive."

When the train pulled into Oval station and the doors finally opened, Mohammed dashed on to the platform, chased by members of the public frantically waving their arms and shouting at him.

The court then heard how Omar, who tried to detonate his bomb on a Victoria Line train near Warren Street station, may have been thrown up into the air by the force of his detonator firing.

He and Mohammed had both set off on their alleged suicide mission from Stockwell Tube station in south London, along with Ibrahim.

The bombers had chosen lunchtime for their attack to avoid the "enhanced security" that was in place at rush hour in the wake of the 7/7 bombings, the court was told.

Omar, who was in the second carriage of the train, set off his bomb as it was approaching Warren Street, at 12.37pm.

Again, the detonator fired but the main charge did not.

"When the device detonated Omar was heard to shout out, in what appeared to be pain," Mr Sweeney said.

"He may have in fact been blown up into the air by the blast. He staggered as he walked along the carriage after that."

As he escaped, one witness saw a hole in the back of his t-shirt from which protruded two wires estimated to be 20cm in length, Mr Sweeney said.

The jury was played CCTV footage of Omar running through the crowds on the platform, up the escalator at Warren Street and into the lobby where he vaulted the gate and fled the station.

Mr Sweeney said that station staff remembered the "terror and panic" on the faces of many of the passengers as they hurriedly left the train.

One witness noticed that Omar had dried peeling skin and white stains on his hands.

"No doubt from the peroxide", Mr Sweeney added.

As he fled, he approached two women in full traditional Muslim dress.

"He demanded of the younger woman that she take him to her home," Mr Sweeney said.

"When she declined he said words to the effect of 'What kind of Muslim are you not helping another Muslim?'"

Osman meanwhile, had remained at Mohammed's flat in Delgarno Gardens, west London, where they had all gathered the night before.

In his rucksack he carried his Southbank Club card, containing his address and photograph, and an envelope containing torn-up photographs of himself.

"If you are expecting to die, it does not matter at all if you have in your rucksack pictures of yourself," Mr Sweeney said.

"If you are carrying out a hoax in which you are hoping to get away, leaving behind your own club card with your name and picture and pictures of yourself with your fingerprints on would seem to be rather unwise."

Osman went to Westbourne Park station and boarded a Hammersmith and City Line train. As the train was between Latimer Road and Shepherd's Bush, the 16 passengers who were in his carriage suddenly heard a "loud bang".

"Some passengers recall him (Osman) being thrown off his feet and landing on the floor of the carriage still wearing his rucksack," Mr Sweeney said.

"Others recall him being knocked over by the force of the blast."

When the train pulled into Shepherd's Bush station, Osman allegedly attempted a dramatic escape by squeezing himself between two carriages.

He went out through the window and tried to climb on to the roof of the train before jumping down, running along the tracks and then disappearing over a trackside wall.

He scaled a fence and jumped into the back garden of a terraced house bordering the track, hurting himself in the process.

Due to the hot weather, the windows in the house were open and Osman managed to pass through the dining room, into the corridor and out through the front door without being stopped.

The alleged bomber then fled and was spotted on CCTV cameras heading past BBC Television Centre, before catching a bus to Wandsworth.

Ibrahim, the alleged bus bomber, had also set off from Stockwell, travelling to Bank by Tube before boarding a double decker Number 26 bus.

He found a seat on his own upstairs, at the back of the bus, with only three or four other people, according to CCTV pictures.

"You may remember that the 7/7 bomb was also upstairs," Mr Sweeney said.

At just after 1pm, at the junction of Shoreditch High Street and Hackney Road he detonated his bomb. Frightened passengers immediately reacted, turning round on hearing the noise and fleeing the bus.

Ibrahim was caught up in the ensuing panic as people tried to get off the vehicle, but escaped without being detained.

Earlier, the court was told the would-be bombers spent three months purchasing and manufacturing their home-made bombs.

Receipts and traces of evidence were found by police at a flat in Curtis House, New Southgate, north London, where Omar lived.

DNA from several of the defendants was also identified.

Mr Sweeney said there were "clear signs" that the manufacture of the bombs for the July 21 attacks had started before the 7/7 bombings.

"The events with which you are concerned 14 days after are plainly not some hastily-arranged repetition of the devastating events of 7/7, plainly not some hastily-arranged copycat," Mr Sweeney told the jury.

It was also revealed today that one of the alleged bomb plotters got engaged just five days before the attempted attacks.

Omar went through an engagement ceremony at Finchley Mosque, north London, which some witnesses even described as a marriage, Mr Sweeney said. The date was Sunday July 17.

Muktar Said Ibrahim, 28, of Stoke Newington, north London; Ramzi Mohammed, 25, from North Kensington, west London; Yassin Omar, 26, from New Southgate, north London; Hussain Osman, 28, of no fixed address; Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 33, of no fixed address; and Adel Yahya, 24, of High Road, Tottenham, north London, all deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life.